Juan Donoso Cortés

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Juan Donoso Cortés,
painting by Germán Hernández

Juan Francisco María de la Salud Donoso Cortés (born May 6, 1809 in Don Benito , † May 3, 1853 in Paris ) was a Spanish diplomat , politician and state philosopher .

Life

Donoso Cortés was the son of a lawyer and a large landowner and a descendant of the conqueror Hernando Cortés . In 1820, Donoso Cortés began studying law, history, philosophy and literature. First he studied in Salamanca , then in Cáceres and later in Seville . His great talent brought him to the chair of literature and aesthetics at the University of Cáceres at the age of nineteen . An early marriage soon ended with the early death of the wife.

In 1832 Donoso Cortés went to Madrid and from then on devoted himself to politics. In 1840 he left the country with the Spanish queen mother Christina and lived in exile in Paris in the following years. In 1843 he played a leading role in the return of the Queen Mother to Spain. His services were rewarded by being raised to the rank of "Marqués (= Margrave) de Valdegamas". Initially inclined to liberalism, France turned to Catholicism, which was completed under the shocking events of the French February Revolution of 1848 for Donoso Cortés . In November 1848 he became the Spanish envoy in Berlin ; a year later he returned home. At the beginning of 1849 he gave a fiery political speech out of deep insight into the Catholic faith, which made him widely known. A second sensational speech about the general situation in Europe took place in January 1850, of which 14,000 copies were already distributed in Paris alone, and which was then translated into German and Italian. Emperors and kings, poets and thinkers were under the spell of his explanations, not least the aged Prince Metternich . In 1851 Donoso Cortés moved to Paris as the Spanish envoy. His main work, Essay on Catholicism, Liberalism and Socialism, then appeared there . On May 3, 1853, Donoso Cortés died of a serious heart condition.

Political theology

Political theology understands theology as the always present and necessary basis of politics. This thesis had its origin in the considerations of the anarchists of the 19th century. Already Proudhon advocated the thesis then taken up by Donoso Cortés that theology is always seen as the basis of politics. In his essay on Catholicism, Liberalism and Socialism, Donoso Cortés summed up the quintessence of political-theological thought when he declared: "Every great political question always includes a great theological question."

Donoso Cortés was able to explain the phenomenon of secularization plausibly: With the French Revolution (from 1789) the arbitrarily deciding people took the place of God. The separation of powers replaces the Trinity . Instead of the person burdened with original sin, the perfect person appears with absolutely free will. This resulted in universal suffrage in modern democracies and a fundamental change in legal awareness, which was more condensed in the modern ideologies of liberalism, communism, socialism and others, excluding the question of truth. Donoso Cortés assigned these ideologies to the "philosophical civilization" which, in its anti-Catholic objective, is in irreconcilable opposition to the Catholic civilization. Truth comes only from revelation.

Donoso Cortés' ideas became known to a German public primarily through constitutional lawyer Carl Schmitt ("Political Theology. Four Chapters on the Doctrine of Sovereignty." 1922).

Liberalism and dictatorship

In his main work, the essay on Catholicism, liberalism and socialism, Donoso Cortés took a critical look at liberalism and socialism:

Donoso Cortés had nothing but contempt for liberalism , the heir to the Enlightenment of the 18th century. He is disgusted by his inability to make a decision: Liberalism says neither yes nor no, but always retreats to a distingo . The liberal ideology of the discussion overlooks the fact that every conversation presupposes a foundation that cannot itself be discussed; otherwise a fruitless chatter is programmed. The aristocracy, with its heroic virtues of self-sacrifice, is only replaced in liberalism by a plutocracy that raises profit as the measure of all things. Finally, the negation of sin can only result in nihilism, to which the modern world has inevitably moved since the Reformation, which ushered in the age of the loss of legitimacy and the revolutions; the socialist attempt to build paradise on earth will only make it a hell.

To the dictatorship of the dagger, i. H. In his speech on dictatorship, Donoso invokes the necessity of a saber dictatorship.

Tomb of Donoso Cortés (Madrid).

Cortés became the mastermind of modern dictatorships. His thoughts found recipients in Europe and Latin America. Donoso Cortés saw forces in the press and in liberalism that endanger the state. Cortés was particularly affected by the revolution in spring 1848. For him, the events that brought about the heyday of freedom of the press were certain signs of the political and cultural decline of Europe. In 1849 he noted: "The discussion is the visiting card with which death travels when he wants to remain anonymous."

Cortés contrasts the useless, even dangerous discussion with the dictatorship. He sees its legitimacy as being based on the fact that, in view of the concentration of revolutionary forces, the forces opposing them also have the right to concentration - to dictatorship. Conservative military dictatorships still follow this view today and thus justify the suppression of parliament, the press and freedom of the press and freedom of expression.

Based on Cortés, Carl Schmitt wrote about the bourgeoisie as a debating class: "A class that puts all political activity into talking, in the press and parliament, is not up to a time of social struggle."

Works (selection)

  • Juan Donoso Cortés: Essay on Catholicism, Liberalism and Socialism . Edited and translated by Günter Maschke . VCH, Weinheim 1989. (Original title: Ensayo sobre el catholicismo, el liberalismo y el socialismo )
  • Juan Donoso Cortés: About the dictatorship. Three speeches from the years 1849/50 . Edited, translated from Spanish and commented by Günter Maschke, Karolinger Verlag , Vienna 1996.
  • Juan Donoso Cortés: The main errors of the present according to their origin and causes, memorandum to His Eminence Card. Fornari , June 19, 1852; Vienna 1932 (Ed. Karl Haselböck).

Collected Works:

literature

  • José Rafael Hernández Arias: Donoso Cortés and Carl Schmitt. An investigation into the political and legal philosophical significance of Donoso Cortés in the work of Carl Schmitt . Schöningh, Paderborn u. a. 1998, ISBN 3-506-73384-2 .
  • José María Beneyto: Apocalypse of Modernity. The dictatorship theory of Donoso Cortes . Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 3-608-91498-6 .
  • Alois Dempf : Christian State Philosophy in Spain. Pustet, Salzburg 1937.
  • Elena María Koch: Catholic Sociology in Spain - Jaime Balmes and Juan Donoso Cortés (1840-1853) . Shaker, Aachen 1993, ISBN 3-86111-722-3 .
  • Albert Maier : Donoso Cortés - letters, speeches and diplomatic reports. Cologne 1950.
  • Günter Rohrmoser : Conservatism in the transition from the 19th to the 20th century - Alexis de Tocqueville and Juan Donoso Cortés. In: Conservative Thinking in the Context of Modernity . Society for Cultural Studies, Bietigheim / Baden 2006, ISBN 978-3-930218-36-3 , p. 158 ff.
  • Carl Schmitt : Donoso Cortés in a pan-European interpretation. Four essays, Greven, Cologne 1950.
  • Axel Schwaiger : Christian interpretation of history in the modern age. An investigation into the historical thinking of Juan Donoso Cortés, Ernst von Lasaulx and Vladimir Solov'ev in the synopsis of Christian historiography development . Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-428-09886-2 .
  • Dietmar Westemeyer: Donoso Cortés - statesman and theologian. Regensberg, Münster 1940.

Web links

Commons : Juan Donoso Cortés  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

supporting documents

  1. ↑ Essay on Catholicism, Liberalism and Socialism, pp. 596f.
  2. ↑ Essay on Catholicism, Liberalism and Socialism, pp. 517ff.
  3. ↑ Essay on Catholicism, Liberalism and Socialism, p. 643
  4. ↑ Essay on Catholicism, Liberalism and Socialism, pp. 652f.
  5. ↑ Essay on Catholicism, Liberalism and Socialism, pp. 663f.
  6. ↑ Essay on Catholicism, Liberalism and Socialism, pp. 675f.
  7. ^ About the dictatorship, pp. 322f.
personal data
SURNAME Donoso Cortés, Juan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Donoso Cortés, Juan Francesco Maria de la Saludad (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Spanish diplomat, politician and state philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH May 6, 1809
PLACE OF BIRTH Don Benito
DATE OF DEATH May 3, 1853
Place of death Paris